JERSEY CITY – This Saturday, April 13, there will be a candlelight vigil with Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy at Jersey City’s New Hope Baptist Church in observance of National Gun Violence Day of Action. The program, which will include a gospel concert, will begin at 7 p.m. at 472-476 Bergen Ave.

“We have been urging Congress to adopt the measures that President Obama set forth, including universal background checks, and this candlelight vigil is another opportunity to show our leaders in Washington we stand united in bringing about this change,” Healy said in a prepared statement. “Gun violence is a federal plague that requires a federal cure and the time to act is now.”

The debate around gun control has once again been renewed as a result of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and Newtown, Conn. last year.

At a mayoral debate hosted by the Hudson Reporter on April 9, the four candidates running for Jersey City mayor offered their personal views on gun ownership and even talked about whether they own a gun.

Healy, a charter member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has long been on record as supporting the reinstatement of the assault weapons bank, background checks for all gun purchases to close the gun show loophole, and a ban on high capacity magazines. The other candidates in the mayoral race – City Councilman Steven Fulop, Team Walker founder Jerry Walker, and Abdul Malik – shared their opinions on these and other gun control measures.

Video footage of the full debate will be posted to www.HudsonReporter.com next week.

As part of the Gun Violence Day of Action, events and vigils will take place in cities across the nation. – E. Assata Wright